Sodor's Big Friendly Giant
by RyanBrony765
Summary: A few weeks after Boco arrived on Sodor, a BR 9F named Sodor Giant arrives on the Island of Sodor and soon proves to be a really useful engine. But will Henry prove himself that he's strong to? Or will he end up causing confusion and delay? Find out.


**Sodor's Big Friendly Giant**  
 **A Thomas and Friends fanfic staring James, Gordon, Henry, Duck, Boco, Donald and Douglas.  
This fanfic takes places a few weeks after Boco arrived from the Mainland and after the events of "Mainline Engines".**

James' incident with some bees a few weeks back had been a good laugh to some of the engines, especially Gordon, Henry, Duck and Boco. The others teased him about it which made James cross.

"I'd be careful if I were you James" teased Henry one afternoon at Knapford. He was waiting at a red signal with his goods train heading for Barrow.

"Why?" asked James from his siding nearby. "I'm not afraid of going out in the sun."

"Oh really?!" exclaimed Henry. "I am surprised. Last I heard bees like flying in the sun. I hope when I blow steam at them they buzz off like you said they would. I wonder why they didn't for you."

James wheeshed angrily as Henry steamed away. He didn't like to be reminded of his own incidents, especially from engines like Henry. Even after his nose was not red anymore, the teasing of his incident with bees was still going on and on. He wished there was something else that the engines would talk about instead of his incident, but he wasn't sure what. The red engine couldn't figure out what the other engines should talk about and angrily went back to work.

For most of the afternoon, James kept himself busy, rearranging trucks and coaches into their proper places. Normally Donald or Douglas would be doing this, but they were helping Edward on his branch line. When night came, all of the shunting chores was completed and the big red engine slowly rolled into the nearby engine shed near the station where he would spend the night. After his fire was dropped, James' driver and fireman went home, leaving James alone in the shed with several sleeping trucks and coaches sitting in their sidings. But what James didn't know, he was about to have a big surprise coming towards him.

Just outside of Knapford, the signalman was sitting at his desk writing words in his crossword puzzle. Gordon flew by with the Midnight Express not too long ago, and the signalman decided to kill time until the next train was due. No sooner has he finished writing one word in his crossword, the bell rang in the tower, warning him of an approaching train. He looked at his timetable.

"Ah, Donald and Douglas are due with the goods" he said and changed the signal from red to green.

A couple minutes of waiting later, the sound of pistons was heard in the distance. But for some reason, the pistons didn't sound like Donald and Douglas at all. The signalman thought this was strange. Donald and Douglas were the only ones on the goods train that night. Did another engine took their place and he wasn't aware of it? There was a whistle, unfamiliar, low toned, loud and long as it was heard in the distance. Then, with pistons puffing and steam chuffing loudly, the mystery engine rushed by with the goods train at high speed, heading towards Knapford Station.

James was still sleeping in his shed and had no idea that the mystery engine was approaching him. The sound of cylinders filled the air as a pair of lanterns shown brightly in the night. Suddenly there was a huge whoosh of steam and a loud whistle echoed all around him. James woke up with a startle as the mysterious engine steamed by with the goods track. It gathered speed and disappeared into the darkness.

"Steaming pistons!" exclaimed James, "Who was that?!"

* * *

The next morning, James was at Knapford Harbor on his way to pick up a train loaded with vegetables that were to be taken to Edward's Station. He was still wondering who the mysterious engine from last night was, but he couldn't put his buffers on it. The whistle sounded unfamiliar, so did the sound of the pistons and if he recalls, the shape of the engine was not recognizable. It definitely wasn't Henry, he wasn't that long enough. Nor was it Gordon, nor Donald or Douglas. But James soon found out when he rounded a bend. He was surprised.

"Who on Earth is that?!" gasped James with awe and shock.

There emerging outside of the shed was a large tender engine. He was long and looked very powerful, with 10 drive wheels, a small smokestack and dome, 2 large smoke deflectors, a large cab, and a big tender. On his smoke deflectors was a nameplate that said "Sodor Giant" in gold letters, and on his tender read "61" in white lettering. The engine was sizzling nicely as he hummed with pride. He smiled when he noticed James nearby.

"Who are you?!" James asked with surprised. He had never seen an engine as big as the mysterious engine before in his life.

"I'm Sodor Giant" said the engine warmly, "and you, I'm assuming, is James."

"How did you know?" questioned James.

The large engine chuckled, "That's easy. There's only one red engine on this railway that loves to show off his red paint, and that engine would be you."

James rolled his eyes, but with a small smile.

Just then the Fat Controller arrived. "Ah James, thank goodness you're here. I see you've met Sodor Giant, a British Railways 9F. He's here to haul freight on the mainline and sometimes help engines up Gordon's Hill. Show him around would you please?"

James wheeshed happily. "Yes sir" he said and showed Sodor Giant around the yard. Along the way he introduced the big 2-10-0 to the other engines, who were surprised to see the big tender engine. They had never seen a big and powerful engine like Sodor Giant before. This made James forget about all the teasing the engines had done to him. Showing the new engine around made him feel special, especially if it's an engine like the large 2-10-0. When the tour was completed, it was time for the two engines to get to work. James collected his trucks full of vegetables and was about to leave with Sodor Giant, when the yardmaster appeared.

"We have a heavy goods that needs to go to Vicarstown, but we need an engine to take it. Do you think you could manage it?" he said to James.

James didn't really want to. He has his train full of vegetables that was needed to be delivered at Edward's Station and heavy goods trains was normally Henry's job. He knew he won't be strong enough to pull his trucks full of vegetables and the heavy goods alone.

"I can take it sir" Sodor Giant said kindly. "I can even take James' trucks too if he wants."

James and the yardmaster was surprised.

"You sure you can manage all of that on your own?" James asked.

Sodor Giant gave a determined harrumph and grinned. "Trust me, I did it back on BR, I'll do it again. Just watch me!"

Their drivers and the yardmaster agreed, and soon enough Sodor Giant was attached to a long line of trucks. James' trucks full of vegetables was hooked up behind his tender, while a long line of heavy goods wagons was behind him, with a small brakevan in the back. The heavy goods wagons included flatbeds loaded with pipes and rails, vans full of crates and goods, oil tankers full of fuel and wagons full of coal. Incase of any problems, James was coupled up from behind.

"Peep peep, are you ready?" whistled James.

"Peep peep, yes I am" Sodor Giant whistled back, and away they went.

The journey went well. Signal lights shown green as they passed, pushing and pulling hard on the train as they head to Edward's Station at track speed. The trucks behaved well on the journey. They knew if they messed with a big engine like Sodor Giant, then it wouldn't go well with them.

"Don't give this guy any trouble" they whispered to each other. "If you do, you'll never be the same car again."

When they reached Edward's Station, Sodor Giant dropped off the trucks full of vegetables and hooked back up to his train of heavy goods wagons, ready for the climb up Gordon's Hill. James was still going to stay on for the big climb up the hill. As soon as everything was set, the two engines set off for the big hill. Clouds of steam and soot filled the air as both Sodor Giant and James worked their hardest up the hill. The 9f felt the drag of the heavy train here, it was hard work but he kept on going and going.

"Push harder, push harder" he chuffed.

"We're doing it, we're doing it!" James called back.

At last, the two engines reached the top of the hill. It was hard working getting to the top, but the two engines' hard work was worth it. They glided down the hill with ease and back onto level ground. As soon as he was sure Sodor Giant got the train under control, James was unhooked from the train and whistled "goodbye" to the big engine as he steamed out of sight.

* * *

Soon everyone got well with Sodor Giant. Wellll... all except Henry. He was jealous of his super strength. He banged some trucks around the yard at Tidmouth the next day.

"Ohhhh" screamed the cars.

"GRRRRRRRR" huffed Henry with anger and he steamed over towards the water tank. Duck and Donald were there too. "Who does that large engine think he his?" Henry complained. "Showing off his strength like he's the king of the rails!"

"He's a 9F Henry" Duck and Donald explained, "The Fat Controller told me that they were used for fast heavy goods trains on the Other Railway. They were one of the most powerful steam locomotive types ever constructed on the Mainland and could probably pull even longer trains than you can ever pull."

"Pah!" snorted Henry and angrily let off steam. "Everyone knows that I can haul heavy goods from one part of the railway to the other. I never boast, but I think I can handle more troublesome trucks more than that Sodor Giant!"

The trucks were crossed with Henry. They've been bumped around by Henry most of the day and wanted to pay him out.

"Who's he to start complaining?"

"We'd rather have someone like Sodor Giant rather than Henry."

"Let's teach him a lesson."

They began to whisper to each other as Henry marshaled up his train. "Pay Henry out. Pay Henry out."

"Come along you silly trucks" Henry said as he buffered up infront, "no nonsense today."

The trucks giggled quietly. "We'll give him nonsense" they whispered.

* * *

Henry was soon out on the open line at track speed. The trucks have been behaving so well, that he thought he had them under control. He steamed through Knapford, and whistled past Crosby before heading towards Edward's Station. James was waiting at the bottom of Gordon's Hill with his passenger train, when Henry steamed past him without a banker. Soon the big green engine was climbing up the steep hill with his heavy trucks. He was determined that he was much stronger than Sodor Giant and wanted to prove that he was, but that was easier said than done.

Suddenly the train began to feel much heavier than Henry thought. Instead of waiting for Edward or Boco to help him up the hill, he had given the trucks the chance they wanted. They held back against the big engine, giggling and laughing loudly.

"Hold back, hold back, you can pull but we hold back!" they sang loudly.

"Grrrrr!" growled Henry as the cars just laughed and his wheels began to spin violently. Wheel slip is very dangerous to a steam locomotive's running gear. If the engine's wheels is slipping, the driver must cut off steam and slowly start up again. If the engine keeps going however, the engine could damage his/her running gear and cylinders. Several incidents happened before on the Other Railway, but Henry was determined. Sparks flew from his wheels as his wheels spun helplessly on the rails. Slowly but surely, the train began to slide down to the bottom of the him. Suddenly...

 _POP!_

Something broke. Steam shot out of Henry's cylinders and his safety valves shot steam out in an alarming rate.

"Ohhhh, ohhhh, I got just a cramp!" wailed Henry in pain as his driver shut off steam and slowly stopped the train at the bottom of the hill, right next to James.

Steam was still shooting out of his safety vales, his valve gear was a bit damaged from all the slipping on the hill, worst of all, Henry's two cylinder heads were shot clean off and was nowhere to be found with steam shooting out the front of the cylinders. It was time for James to leave, he had seen everything.

"Now who's laughing?" laughed James to himself.

At Edward's Station, Sodor Giant was waiting with the express. He was waiting for Henry to clear the track ahead of him, but he didn't. The passengers were starting to get impatient and wanted to get going. The signalman himself was concerned. "I'll send in Edward."

"No" said Sodor Giant's driver. "Leave it to Sodor Giant."

"What will you do?"

"Well" said the driver, "Sodor Giant is gonna pull his train and push Henry's up the hill. Do you think you could do it old boy?"

Sodor Giant smiled bravely. "I'll try" he said and steamed away towards Henry's train.

When he reached Henry's train, he gave it a gentle bump.

"Mush you!"

Slowly but surely the train began it's steep climb up the hill. Steam shot out of Sodor Giant's smokestack as he pushed Henry's train and pulled his coaches up the hill. His driver let out a lot of sand on the rails for Sodor Giant to get a good grip. Eventually, they made it to the top of the hill and back down the other side.

At Maron, Donald and Douglas was waiting at the station to take over Henry's train. Chuffing and puffing hard, Sodor Giant arrived at the station with both the express and Henry's heavy goods. The Scottish twins cheered as the big tender engine arrived at the station, tired but triumphed. The Fat Controller, who was on Sodor Giant's train, congratulated him.

"Well done" he said. "I knew I have made a wise choice of having a large 9F like you on my railway. You have shown me that you are a really useful engine and a strong one. You shall be given a new coat of paint."

"Thank you sir" smiled Sodor Giant.

Then the Fat Controller turned to Henry crossly. "You have caused confusion and delay" he said sternly. "My engines do not show off their strength incase something like this happens. They do their work without showing how strong they are. You will have to go to the Steamworks to get your valve gear and cylinders fixed while Sodor Giant will do your work until you are fixed. I hope this teaches you a lesson about teasing James about his own incidents."

Henry felt embarrassed, as Donald and Douglas pulled both him and his goods train to Crovan's Gate.

* * *

That evening, Sodor Giant was at Tidmouth Sheds with all the other engines. The Steamworks have given him some stripes on his boiler, cab and tender, along with a new coat of paint which gleamed in the shed light. Even Gordon was impressed.

"You have done a nice job today Sodor Giant" said James happily.

Sodor Giant smiled. "Thank you James" he said warmly. "I'm sure glad to be here rather than being scrapped back on the Other Railway."

Just then, Duck arrived. He was glad that the day's work was over and wanted to tell the big 9F the news.

"Victor told me that Henry will be out for a while" said the little tank engine, "and he has a lot of work that's needed to be done while he's out of action. Do you think you could manage it?"

"Why certainly" said the large tender engine. "After all, I am one of the Mainland's powerful steam engines. Besides, it keeps me busy and makes me feel really useful."

 **Thomas and Friends belongs to (C) HiT Entertainment.  
Sodor Giant belongs to me.  
No copyright infringement is intended.  
Please review this.  
Fan art is allowed, but be sure to credit me or send me a link to it on Deviantart.**


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